At a quarter to three in the morning on August 25, 2023, officers in Normal, Illinois were talking to people on a residential street near Linden and Mulberry. A twenty six year old woman was there with them. She was wearing roller skates. A records check came back with a warrant for failing to appear in court, on a domestic battery case from February. She did not believe it, and she would not go. Over the next twenty minutes she kicked an officer, spat, threatened to bite, screamed for her father and for a cousin she insisted was the mayor, and accused the officers of cutting her wrist, then of hurting her arm, then of far worse. What makes this stop worth your time is what the officers do while that is happening. Four separate times somebody asks her where it hurts, not whether she is hurt. They call for an ambulance while she is still kicking, because she has said she cannot breathe and nobody there is willing to assume she is lying about it. One of them asks her name so he can use it, and then talks her through breathing, in through the nose and out through the mouth. Another asks her where she got her roller skates. She tells him, out of a catalog. Near the end, one of them tells her he is going to secure the skates in the trunk of the squad car so they do not get lost. She is screaming at him while he says it. About an hour after the handcuffs she is in a medical waiting room, being looked at by a doctor, because one of them offered to take her and then did. Source agency: Normal Police Department, Normal, Illinois. Records request RR-1394-2023. Reported charges: two counts of aggravated battery, a Class 2 felony in Illinois, and two counts of resisting a peace officer, a Class A misdemeanor. Officers ask her on camera about a THC product and about test strips found in her bag. No drug charge was filed, and both of those things are legal in Illinois. Cannabis has been legal there for adults twenty one and over since January 2020, and fentanyl test strips were removed from the state's definition of drug paraphernalia in 2022, the year before this arrest. She was twenty six. This is public police body camera footage obtained through a public records request. We add commentary and analysis explaining what is happening and the law behind it. The footage has been edited and condensed for length. The film opens on a short moment taken from about nine minutes into the stop, and that moment plays again in its place later; after the opening, the order of events is preserved. Profanity is muted. Street names belonging to people who are not involved have been removed from the audio. Dialogue subtitles are machine generated from the recording and can mishear a word. Names have been left out of the title, the thumbnail and the narration. The officers use her first name on camera to calm her down, and that has been left in the recording because it is part of how they de-escalated. We do not name her ourselves, and we do not name the officers. We obtain footage like this through public records requests. You can look up any agency, see its records, and start your own request at https://foia.direct 00:00 She says it is a panic attack 00:43 Handcuffs, and roller skates 01:13 A warrant she does not believe 02:25 Calling for a cousin 03:56 Why she is in handcuffs 04:26 Can you tell me how you are hurting 06:02 Do not kick me again 07:04 Dad, they are cutting me 08:54 What is in the bag 10:12 I appreciate it, it means a lot 11:21 Where did you get your roller skates 11:55 What is your name 12:58 Take me to his house instead 14:02 The skates go in the trunk 14:38 Would you like to go to the hospital 15:24 You will be able to call him 16:14 The accusation 16:58 A waiting room, and a doctor #BodyCam #Police #Illinois #KnowYourRights

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